Month : June 2017

An economic storm can cause anxiety and stress for new or smaller business owners. If you run a small business you don’t have the luxury of enforcing protective measures to help you weather a recession or hard times. Many business owners feel uncomfortable asking for help or advice on how to handle their credit or cash flow situation and it’s no secret you are seen as a bit of a risk by banks. But don’t let that get you down. There are plenty of other options to cut costs and get advice. Nadine Bourne from www.xlntelecom.co.uk takes us through a couple of ways in which new or small SMEs can prepare themselves for a financial storm:

1. Make forecasts

If you are worried about the future, it’s important to be prepared and ready for what is coming next. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by making a realistic cash-flow forecast. With this you can invent a couple of situations like a drop in customers or revenue and then using the forecast, assess how well your business could survive.

If you’ve got an iPhone, try the Cash Flow HD app to calculate your forecast or you can stick to good old Excel.

2. Take a look at your bank balance

Whoever you bank with, they ought offer you some shelter against your economic storm. You should talk to your bank manager about whether you are getting the best deal for your business account and whether loans or an overdraft facility are available. It’s always good to keep an eye on the press about your chosen bank for any changes which may affect lending. If the time has come to switch accounts with a new bank, really do your homework on your options by comparing deals – read the fine print and look out for any hidden charges!

There are plenty of comparison tables and tools available on the internet to compare account options if you are thinking about switching.

3. Cut your expenses

Expenses can build up a lot of overheads for your business so cutting down will help you save cash for your business. When you need to make a purchase, think about it. Do you need to buy the latest MacBook pro, or could you go with a cheaper option? Travel expenses can also add up. Consider cheaper alternatives to things like taxis to meet clients. To save even more money you could hold meetings on the phone or Skype – the added bonus being big time savings too.

4. Cut down on monthly costs

As with anything, no matter how much you budget and save, costs like rent and bills will always need to be paid on time. Since these are unavoidable and cannot be cut out, the next step is to try and save on them. Look on internet comparison sites and ask your friends and neighbours how much they are paying. Business phone and broadband can be expensive, so if you’re a small business, look for a provider who only deals with small businesses. Are you paying too much for rent? Maybe you could look for cheaper premises. And try to avoid signing up to long term contracts so if things get difficult you can get out without too much bother.

5. Think about your employment costs

Paying employees is a necessary cost to keep your business running. But if you are thinking about recruiting new staff members, first think about whether any of your current staff could fill this gap through paid overtime or as a new job role. If you do have to employ new people, make sure you recruit effectively as this can be a costly process. Take the time to find the right person for the job, don’t rush and hire someone who won’t live up to what you need.

Every now and then something can really get on your nerves and you just want to yell. I’ve had many of those moment but too many times choose to hold it in.

Apparently it’s not the best thing to do. I’m sure a lot of people have this same issue, so I’m here to help. Let out your anger and frustration below. Don’t hold back on anything.

This may get family unfriendly quickly but that’s ok because some people may highly dislike kids anyway. If you don’t want to read my rants but you want to start ranting right away then just skip to the Your Turn section at the bottom.

Rant 1

Let me start it off. I hate that our government isn’t stepping up for the people and is instead standing up for corporations that will do anything to make a quick buck because the people that make decisions don’t have to live in the same world that they affect. You don’t see a rich neighborhood next to factories do you?

That’s what I have a problem with. It’s not that they are rich, it’s that they get their money by making part of the world worst off than when they started. Is that every rich person? No and I don’t have a problem with them. But if a company gives my representative money to help vote to make my neighborhood worse off just so they can make more money to give that same representative then I have a problem with that.

Rant 2

Oil companies! Can you please allow us to have clean energy? I know it doesn’t make you as much money as you would like but I promise you won’t be broke….unless you choose not to embrace it. It’s the same with industries throughout time. If you don’t innovate then you will die off.

Embrace change and make the world better….it’s not that hard I promise. Just put some more of those oil profits into it and you’ll have it in no time. You’re Welcome!

Rant 3

The Economy! I know there are a lot of people without jobs right now. Whose fault is that? Ours! We created a world that we can not support. We over created way too many of the same thing (houses) that we could not afford to keep up with. We put all of our eggs in 1 basket. Obviously that was a bad call. Manufacturing isn’t where we need to be. People overseas make it a lot cheaper and will eventually make it just as good if not better than we can. What’s going to happen then? Even more job losses. We need to get people away from that and into jobs that actually have a future. The internet is like a whole new world that we should start working more towards. It allows us to barter a lot more effectively and can help bring in a lot of money. So why aren’t more people doing it?

Partly because they don’t know what they can do to make money because they haven’t learned it in school. We should teach more entrepreneurism in the school and stop making our kids less creative by teaching them with standardized tests. That just created standardized people. We need to evolve but we’re still stuck in the past.

Your Turn

Well that was my rants for the day. That felt really good. I’m probably going to do this again.

Get your rant on in the comments below. Do you hate that I wrote this post, hate my site, hate your boss, hate that the work week is so long, are you annoyed by your kids, or a significant other that hides money from you. Whatever it is let it out into the world. Maybe someone can help you if you need it. If you don’t want people to know who you are then by all means get creative with your name.

What won’t be allowed: Any Racism, Sexism, Slurs….you get the pictures, but feel free to use some cursing if need be.

Payday loans are the fastest way to get cash before your payday and the best way to get financially ruined in no time. People often forget that any money borrowed from a payday lender will generate high interest rates that summed up to an already existent debt, make payday loans a heavy load to pay off.

If you are already trapped in a debt circle resulting from credit cards, mortgages or another type of loans, you do not really need to add a payday loan to this circle, but find suitable alternatives for your imminent money need. There are at least four alternatives to a payday loan that might be the answer to you are looking for, so simply analyze them and decide yourself which is the best in your particular case.

Negotiating

The most viable way is talking to your creditors and asks the possibility to extend your due date. Okay, you need money, not refinancing or similar thing, but this way you can take the money that you reserve to repay your debt, assuming that you have this money available in a savings account or somewhere at home. There are two possibilities here; on the one hand that you really need the payday loan to repay other debt. In this case, a creditor can extend the due date without reporting to the bureau or charging a penalty for late payments, thus removing the need to get cash advance. On the other hand, you might have never thought to put aside any money to repay your debt, living on a paycheck to paycheck basis.

Credit Cards

However there is a second alternative here, as long as you need the money to buy something or that your credit card grants you access to cash advance. Yes, using your credit card to pay for items is cheaper that borrowing money from a payday loan. However getting a cash advance from a credit card (when allowed) is costly than paying for goods at the time of purchase, although both of these solutions into one financial instrumental will always be cheaper than a payday loan, and some banks give a few days grace period to repay cash advances before interest rates apply.

Family or Friends

The third alternative to payday loans is not always suitable and not always impossible; which is to borrow money from a family member, friend or even your neighbor. Perhaps this last thing will only give you nothing more than a few bucks, but sometimes a few bucks can make a difference. However family members or friends may have your money solutions in their hands and it is about daring to ask them. The main advantage is that they may lend with no interest rates, but there is a risk factor involved here. Money is often responsible for broken relationships, so if you are unsure of your financial capability to repay their money in a timely manner, you will do better select another alternative. Be honest about your financial situation when talking to them and never promise without having the certainty on what you are saying.

Reevaluate Expenses

Perhaps the fourth alternative is the best of all of these; cut down on your bills. Depending on how much money you need, you can cut out some services that you do not need, or you can delay the payment without being reported to bureau if your delay does not exceed past 30 days. If you cannot live without paying your carrier the extra module that enables you to text your friends beyond the limit of you cell phone plan, for instance, then try to cut out the amount of beers that you drink. Tighten your belt for a month or two will not hurt and can give you the extra cash that you need, or can be an “extra” income if you keep reducing expenses consistently.

There are several other alternatives to payday loans, but these are some of the easiest solutions that you can find.

Author Bio: Noel Finlay works for FastCash.org a company that provides information on quick loans.

What can be more annoying than having no finance for your home, car or business at the time of need? People who are not that much strong to keep their pockets full of bucks all the time face many troubles in little things. In the need of hour, everyone wants liquid asset and other credit loans does not allow you to get a fast cash immediately. Title loans New Orleans helps you to solve your problem and provides you with the maximum possible amount of cash. It is a type of secured loan where mortgagors can use their vehicle title as security. Borrowers who get title loans must allow a lender to place a lien on their car title, and for the time being submit the hard copy of their vehicle title, in exchange for a loan amount. When the loan is repaid, the lien is removed and the car title is given back to its proprietor.

Here are mentioned some important features of Car Title Loan that you have to follow to get a loan.

Requirements

You must be at least 18 years old

You must have the original title of your car in your name

There should be no existing liens on the vehicle

The vehicle should not be more than 15 years old

You must bring the vehicle to our store for a quick inspection and VIN verification

Time Limit

The whole application process can take as little as 15 minutes after submitting the required paperwork and having your vehicle inspected by our staff. The process is very straight-forward and can be approved very quickly once your application has been submitted.

Car Possession

The best part about Auto Title Loans at Orleans is that you get to keep your car while you pay off the loan. Many other title loan companies will require that you leave the vehicle in their care until the loan is repaid in full.

Working of Car Title Loan

You Can Keep Your Car With An Auto Title Loan from New Orleans Car Title Loans

You Can Keep Your Car With An Auto Title Loan from New Orleans Car Title Loans

If you own a vehicle with a clear title, you may qualify for up to $1,000 cash instantly using an Auto Title Loan from New Orleans Car Title Loans.

Title Loans allow you to put up your car’s title as collateral and get a loan based on the value of the automobile or vehicle.

The actual amount of the loan is based on the value of the car and your ability to repay the loan.

An Auto Title Loan is a secured loan, using your vehicle as collateral to insure that the loan is repaid.

If you are unable to repay the loan or make other payment arrangements, you risk losing the vehicle as repayment for the loan.

Penny auctions are becoming quite popular after the recession when shoppers are looking for good deals. True, penny bidding might get you some very good deals, but they are very unlike traditional auctions. Without knowing what these penny bids are, it is very risky to try to win listed items because you can lose a lot of money. This is How Penny Auctions Work?

What is a Penny Auction?

Unlike a traditional auction, penny auctions are not free to be bid on. Every bid you place, you need to pay a certain amount of money. This is very unlike real auctions. Also, you cannot place any bid amount that you want. You can only place a bid that would increase the price of the item by 1 cent typically (in some cases, it can be 2 cents as well). The way the penny auction makes money is by selling the individual bids.

The cost of each penny bids varies depending on the penny auction. At Quibids, which is one of the more famous and well known penny auctions, the cost of a bid is 60 cents.

How do they make money?

To find out how Quibids can give away such deals like a camera for $10 or Macbook for $50, let’s do a small math problem:

Suppose Quibids had an auction where the Macbook was given away for $50, which is not typical but one of the lowest prices of a Macbook. You might think that is a great deal, but let’s look at the auction in more detail. For the Macbook to sell at $50, there would have been 5000 bids because each bid increases the price by 1 cent. When 5000 bids are placed, it cost a total of 5000X$0.60 = $3000. The typical cost of this product might be around $1000, so that is still a cool $2000 profit for Quibids. So the site still makes money even by giving away Macbooks for $50! Usually a Macbook auction might go higher.

So the important thing to remember in penny auctions is that except the winner, everyone else loses money through the unsuccessful bids. So, if you really want to find good deals on penny auctions, you must make sure you are the winner of an auction no matter what. If things go bad and you are forced to place a lot of bids, you can always use the ‘Buy it Now’ feature of Quibids to purchase the item at the market price. This greatly minimizes losses.

3 tips to not get taken for a ride

This also brings an important point – don’t bid on items without the “Buy it Now” feature. Without this feature, you can easily be outbid on penny auctions and you will end up losing all the bids that you have used for that auction. Also, try to bid small at least in the beginning until you learn the process of penny auctions. As I already said, these are quite different from the traditional auctions that people are used to. Finally, remember that the best times to bid on penny auctions is during the non-peak hours, which are usually the mornings and office hours. Weekends tend to attract a lot of bidders and thus a lot of competition, so try to avoid them.

I hope this helped you learn How Penny Auctions Work.

Have you ever tried penny bidding? Would you?

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links that I make money from to take a trip to the North Pole to meet Santa Clause.

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